Blog Archives

One of the most interesting things I have noticed about Search and Rescue teams is this; they are made of volunteers who have “regular jobs” — outside of SAR. This means that every SAR volunteer has an expertise in addition to SAR, something they…

A quick tutorial on how to use YourLo.ca/tion to assist a SAR team (or any first responder) to help you locate a missing person. Features Free: Multiple messaging platforms: Email, SMS, online Request and response logging push technology for instant alerting…

People in BC are used to seeing the CH-149 Cormorant helicopter, based at 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron in Comox, BC. This helicopter is the Canadian Forces SAR helicopter. It costs about $30,000 an hour to operate, and soon, if…

Earlier this year I wrote a quick primer on SAR in BC for UAV operators. Today I’d like to write a quick note on the flip side of that coin, information the SAR teams need to know. I covered this material before, but I keep…

Over the years I’ve run this site I’ve done a lot of thinking about Search and Rescue and technology. I’ve written and presented on maps, coordinates, and GPS, among other things. I’ve brought these ideas to four incarnations of Canada’s national SAR conference, and talked…

There’s been a bit of media attention given to the tax credit announced by the federal government in the budget yesterday (see my post for more details). A friend of mine asked me if I was in favour of this,…

Today, the federal government of Canada introduced a tax credit for SAR volunteers. The relevant text from the budget is included in it’s entirety below (pages 229-230). Not included are details in Annex 2 (pages 321 and 322) which I…

Who is paying for SAR in BC? A better question is, where does the money come from and how is it used? The BC Search and Rescue Association (BCSARA) released a discussion paper last year that effectively answers most of these…